E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Good morning, sycophants

Did you know that some of you are regarded as sycophants of mine by the bleating sheep in Fireman Randyland? You'd have to scroll down quite a ways in this post to read it -- nah, take my word for it. Then another person bleats: "I am a progressive, not a Jack Bog sycophant!" Those blue kids are too funny.

I love it when the critics, on either side of the aisle, go for the ad hominem stuff. That's when I know I've got the subject at hand -- in this case, the insane Paulson stadiums deal -- exactly right.

ad hominem attacks are a strategy used by those who cant debate on the merits (ha).

This stupid Lents proposal is completely indefensible, and these guys know it. Randy has dug himself in a hole, and he only knows how to dig deeper. I think his mistake was backing Adams on this idea, and now he is claiming it as his own.

Although I have to say, at risk of losing my status as a sycophant (and when did a term for crazy members of the pachyderm family become the descriptor for a slavish follower? ba-dum-bum) that the "if I'm pissing people off on both sides of an issue then I must be right" ain't necessarily so. Eight years of media equivocation on the Bush administration should have proved that.

Then another person bleats: "I am a progressive, not a Jack Bog sycophant!"

That comment by Portland Lover was a reaction to the post directly before it, which read "Alas...leave it to Jack Bog's sycophants to always show up and post their BS." I think Portland Lover was objecting to the use of the phrase "Jack Bog sycophant" to marginalize opposition to the stadium, which seems to be growing on BlueOregon.

Step 1: Describe and declare the pre-development site "defective" or "blighted" in some way:For a neighborhood that has clawed and scratched to shake the moniker “Felony Flats,” becoming the “Home of the Portland Beavers” would be a fitting mark of a new era.

Step 2: Declare that there's an urgent need to "correct" that defect:Since the creation of the Lents Urban Renewal Area in 1998, Lents has been starving for a catalytic project that would set the stage for the kind of development that is contemplated by the plans and aspirations of the neighborhood

Step 3: Set up a conflict:The Lents neighborhood has brashly and correctly drawn attention to years of the downtown elite calling the shots in this City, often at their expense—or worse yet, without even considering them.

Step 4: Ignore the double contradiction of you being part of that elite, and your description of your efforts not agreeing with #3 above:Since my election to the City Council, I have been vigilant in my efforts to keep East Portland in the consciousness of the City.

Step 5: Present the Heroic Savior Solution.The addition of the Beavers headquarters and 100+ jobs into Lents, along with the 3,000-5,000 people from outside of the neighborhood coming into Lents 72 times each year to spend their discretionary income would give Lents a competitive psychological and economic edge that no other neighborhood in the City could compete with.

"if I'm pissing people off on both sides of an issue then I must be right"

I get it from both sides, but never on the same issue. The hate comes spewing forth from the right when I ask questions about the bizarre governor of Alaska; and from the left when I challenge the Portland City Council, which is bankrupting the place to buy junk.

...and from the left when I challenge the Portland City Council, which is bankrupting the place to buy junk.

Seriously? The "left," Jack? Or just people who are supporters of people like Sam Adams? Because Adams and his old boss Vera Katz are not exactly the kind of people I think of as leftists.

They're pretty much middle-of-the-road politicians. I know it's difficult to compare local and national political figures on policy issues, but I can't really imagine how you'd make the case for Adams, Katz, Leonard, or anyone else who's been on the City Council in recent memory having a political philosophy that was a out-of-the-mainstream as the John Bircher, Alaska independence movement supporting Governor of AK, or even GW Bush.

I don't doubt that Adams, and the others have plenty of followers, and maybe they're to the left of the hard-core GOP supporters, but the people at places like Blue Oregon and elsewhere who are tight with the Democratic power structure in Portland aren't any more left than Ed Muskie. Some of them may have tattoos and piercings or ride bikes, but anyone who'd support a politician proposing a giant tax dollar giveaway to a corporation running a sports team is not "on the left."

So good to log in to a laugh, Geoff.
Portland is oh so painfully funny so much of the time and its good to see people enjoying it in cyberspace.

Sometimes it is just painful. The fireman definitely engages in projection and denial. Another mess he made is with the recent Animal Services task force whose recommendations are supposed to become final soon. He and Ted Wheeler appointed the existing leadership and members and boosters of an animal use group to police and make recommendations for themselves. There was no investigation of complaints, no research into best practices in animal management, no willingness to listen, at all, to anyone with knowledge of these matters, but only a willingness to jump on the bandwagon and call names. These people aren't leaders; they're sychophants themselves. Portland is one of two US cities that has a free standing clinic for neutering feral cats. People in neighborhoods all over town support caring for ferals in their neighborhoods. The task force is recommending strong arm tactics for collecting both cat and dog licensing fees. The proponent of this practice, Bill Bruce, an animal mamager from Calgary Alberta, believes in silencing critics. The task force is also recommending that veterinarians in Multnomah County refuse to render services to an unlicensed animal. These practices are by no means best practices and they will lead to a blood bath for tended stray and feral cats. The time to speak up is now. Ask Leonard, Wheeler and the folks at the O why they aren't fully exploring the issues, but instead accepting the opinions of animal users and their, shall I say it, sychophants?

Darrelplant; calling Adams and Katz as middle of the road politicians is laughable. If you want to stay on the inner westside and out to 32nd on the east then you might be slightly correct. Being liberal is more than which side one comes down on social issues, there's also fiscal issues, and a slew of others.

If you made a list of all the issues and which side Adams, Katz and even the City Council, you would find that they are predominantly liberal, especially if you looked at the whole state and nation for comparison.

That's why when Portlanders travel you hear many comments of "what the heck is going on out there?-we would have kicked the bums out by now". Fellow demo, if you like labels.

That ilk aren't left, right or middle and they couldn't care less because they're without a moral compass, relying instead on the guidance of a cash dowser that they whittle up for themselves under the tutelage of sc**bags like Goldschmidt and others who perpetuate the cycle of pro abusus publico.

Would an anti-sycophant oppose elective disincorporation of the city of Portland? (But don't let the good -- bond counsel type -- folks at Orrick argue that your elective rights are constrained by blah blah and blah.)

It would dispense with the need for any recall election (or delay) and would give Ted W. an immediate and direct role in resolving the city's financial messes.

The old City of Lents could then reincorporate themselves and chart their own pah.

That's why when Portlanders travel you hear many comments of "what the heck is going on out there?-we would have kicked the bums out by now".

Riiiight, like there's no corruption or sex scandal anywhere else in the country. It took f***ing tapes to pry Blago out of the governor's mansion, but there were years of stories and investigations into him. Do I need to mention Spitzer? Bernie Kerik -- Rudy Giuliani's pick for the head of Homeland Security -- was indicted yesterday, but he served for years in NYC as police commissioner.

Katz, Adams, Leonard (who claims he represents the very east-side Portlanders you claim you do) are all typical pols. They're cutting deals with developers. They're getting money from the folks at the Arlington Club. Most of their work has absolutely nothing to do with "liberal" values, and being a liberal's not the same thing as being a leftist, anyhow.

And seriously? 32nd Avenue? Maybe you don't know the east side as well as you think you do. Me, I've lived in my neighborhood long enough to remember when the skinheads who beat Mulageta Seraw to death lived around the corner, we had a heroin shooting gallery in the abandoned factory down the block, and squatters were pissing off the porches of the condemned houses across the street from ours. So spare me your supposed education about the realities of east-side life.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 45
At this date last year: 117
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269